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Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Sveriges Television (SVT; 1980–present) Formerly Sveriges Radio (1958–1979)
Participation summary
Appearances	63 (62 finals)
First appearance	1958
Highest placement	1st: 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, 2023
Host	1975, 1985, 1992, 2000, 2013, 2016, 2024
Participation history 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Related articles
Melodifestivalen
External links
SVT official homepage
Sweden's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Sweden has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut in 1958, missing only three contests since then (1964, 1970, and 1976). The current Swedish participant broadcaster in the contest is Sveriges Television (SVT), which select its entrant with the national competition Melodifestivalen. Sweden has hosted the contest seven times: three times in Stockholm (1975, 2000, 2016), three times in Malmö (1992, 2013, 2024) and once in Gothenburg (1985). At the 1997 contest, Sweden was one of the first five countries to adopt televoting.

Sweden, along with Ireland, is the most successful country in the Eurovision Song Contest, with a total of seven victories. Sweden also has the most top five results of the 21st century, with 13; in total, Sweden has achieved 26 top five results in the contest. After finishing second with "Nygammal vals" performed by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson in 1966, Sweden went on to achieve its seven victories with "Waterloo" by ABBA (1974), "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys (1984), "Fångad av en stormvind" by Carola (1991), "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson (1999), "Euphoria" by Loreen (2012), "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw (2015), and "Tattoo" by Loreen (2023).

Contest history

Sveriges Radio (SR) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Sweden since its third edition in 1958. Since 1980, after a restructuring that led to the creation of its television subsidiary Sveriges Television (SVT), it is the latter who participates representing Sweden.

Sweden's first entrant in the contest was "Lilla stjärna" performed by Alice Babs in 1958, who was placed fourth. This remained the country's best result until 1966, when "Nygammal vals" by Lill Lindfors and Svante Thuresson was second.

Sweden's first Eurovision victory was in 1974 with the song "Waterloo", performed by ABBA. Thanks to their victory in Brighton, ABBA went on to gain worldwide success and become one of the best-selling pop groups of all time. In the 1980s, Sweden achieved three successive top three results. After "Främling" by Carola finished third in 1983, "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by the Herreys gave Sweden its second victory in 1984. "Bra vibrationer" by Kikki Danielsson then finished third in 1985. Carola returned to the contest in 1991, eventually giving Sweden its third win with "Fångad av en stormvind", defeating France in a tie-break. "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson gave the country a second win of the decade in 1999. The 1990s also saw two third-place results, for Jan Johansen in 1995 and One More Time in 1996. In the 2000s, the best Swedish result was fifth place, which it achieved four times, with Friends in 2001, Fame in 2003, Lena Philipsson in 2004 and Carola, who in 2006, became the only Swedish performer to achieve three top five results. Together with Croatia and Malta, Sweden was one of only three countries to have never been relegated under the pre-2004 rules of the contest.

With the exception of 2006, Sweden endured a poor run of results between 2005 and 2009, placing no higher than 18th. The nadir came in 2010, when Anna Bergendahl became the first Swedish entrant to fail to qualify for the final, finishing 11th in the semi-final, only five points from qualification (in 2008, Charlotte Perrelli finished 12th in the semi-final but qualified through the back-up jury selection). Since then, the country has been very successful, finishing in the top ten in all subsequent editions except two (14th place in 2013 and 2021). This includes a fifth victory courtesy of "Euphoria" by Loreen in 2012, a sixth victory courtesy of "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw in 2015, and a seventh victory courtesy of "Tattoo" by Loreen in 2023. With her 2023 win, Loreen also became the second performer as well as the first female artist to win the contest more than once. Additional top-five placements during this period are third places in 2011 and 2014, a fourth place in 2022, and fifth places in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Melodifestivalen

To choose its entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest, SR–between 1959 and 1979–and SVT–since 1980–have organised an annual music competition known since 1967 as Melodifestivalen. It is one of Sweden's most popular television shows, and it has been estimated that more than four million Swedes watch the show annually. All of Sweden's entries for Eurovision have been selected through Melodifestivalen, with the exception of its first entry in 1958, which was internally selected by SR.

Participation overview

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Performer	Song	Composer(s) lyrics (l) / music (m)	Final result	Points	Host city	Ref.
2002	Artistic Award	Afro-dite	"Never Let It Go"	Marcos Ubeda	8	72	Tallinn
2006	Artistic Award	Carola	"Invincible"	Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren, Henrik Wikström, Carola	5	170	Athens
2012	Artistic Award	Loreen	"Euphoria"	Thomas G:son, Peter Boström	1	372	Baku
	Composer Award
2013	Composer Award	Robin Stjernberg	"You"	Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, Joakim Harestad Haukaas	14	62	Malmö
2015	Artistic Award	Måns Zelmerlöw	"Heroes"	Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb	1	365	Vienna
2022	Composer Award	Cornelia Jakobs	"Hold Me Closer"	Cornelia Jakobsdotter, Isa Molin, David Zandén	4	438	Turin
2023	Artistic Award	Loreen	"Tattoo"	Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Lorine Talhaoui, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son	1	583	Liverpool
	Press Award

Winners by OGAE members

Year	Song	Performer	Final result	Points	Host city	Ref.
2008	"Hero"	Charlotte Perrelli	18	47	Belgrade
2012	"Euphoria"	Loreen	1	372	Baku
2014	"Undo"	Sanna Nielsen	3	218	Copenhagen
2022	"Hold Me Closer"	Cornelia Jakobs	4	438	Turin
2023	"Tattoo"	Loreen	1	583	Liverpool

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	Eurovision conductor	Melodifestivalen conductor	Notes	Ref.
1958	Dolf van der Linden	No national final held	Host conductor
1959	Franck Pourcel	Thore Ehrling	Host conductor
1960	Thore Ehrling
1961	William Lind [sv]
1962	Egon Kjerrman
1963	William Lind
1965
1966	Gert-Ove Andersson
1967	Mats Olsson
1968
1969	Lars Samuelson
1971	Claes Rosendahl
1972	Mats Olsson
1973	Monica Dominique
1974	Sven-Olof Walldoff
1975	Lars Samuelson
1977	Anders Berglund
1978	Bengt Palmers
1979	Lars Samuelson
1980	Anders Berglund
1981
1982
1983	Anders Ekdahl
1984	Curt-Eric Holmquist
1985	Curt-Eric Holmquist	—
1986	Anders Berglund	N/A
1987	Curt-Eric Holmquist
1988	Anders Berglund
1989
1990	Curt-Eric Holmquist
1991	Anders Berglund
1992	Anders Berglund
1993	Curt-Eric Holmquist
1994	Anders Berglund
1995
1996
1997	Curt-Eric Holmquist
1998	Anders Berglund
1999	No orchestra	Anders Berglund
2000		Curt-Eric Holmquist

Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.

Commentators and spokespersons

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Over the years Swedish commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Jacob Dahlin, Ulf Elfving, Harald Treutiger, Pekka Heino, Kristian Luuk, and Fredrik Belfrage. Since 2009 (with the exceptions of 2013 and 2016), Edward af Sillén provided the SVT commentary alongside various dual commentators.

Other shows

Stage directors

Costume designers

Photo gallery

• Alice Babs in Hilversum (1958)
• Ingvar Wixell in Naples (1965)
• Tomas Ledin in The Hague (1980)
• Carola in Athens (2006)
• The Ark in Helsinki (2007)
• Charlotte Perrelli in Belgrade (2008)
• Malena Ernman in Moscow (2009)
• Anna Bergendahl in Oslo (2010)
• Eric Saade in Düsseldorf (2011)
• Loreen in Baku (2012)
• Robin Stjernberg in Malmö (2013)
• Sanna Nielsen in Copenhagen (2014)
• Måns Zelmerlöw in Vienna (2015)
• Frans in Stockholm (2016)
• Robin Bengtsson in Kyiv (2017)
• Benjamin Ingrosso in Lisbon (2018)
• John Lundvik in Tel Aviv (2019)
• Tusse in Rotterdam (2021)
• Cornelia Jakobs in Turin (2022)
• Loreen in Liverpool (2023)
• Marcus & Martinus in Malmö (2024)

See also

• Melodifestivalen
• Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Sweden in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Sweden in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Sweden in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

Notes

1. ^ According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
2. Qualified through the back-up jury selection
3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. ^ Voted by previous winners.
5. ^ Voted by commentators.
6. All conductors are of Swedish nationality unless otherwise noted.
7. That year's Swedish national final was presented without an orchestra to save money for the international contest.
8. Also conducted the Belgian entry
9. That year's Swedish national final had the entries presented as music videos, so there was no orchestra present.
10. Berglund also conducted and played accordion for the Yugoslav entry; he re-arranged the French entry as well when the submitted sheet music was deemed too difficult to follow.

References

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Bibliography

• Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international finals] (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Premium Publishing. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.

External links

• SVT's site for Melodifestivalen
• Swedish Radio's site for Melodifestivalen
• Gylleneskor.se
• ESC Sweden
• OGAE Sweden, the Swedish branch of the ESC fan club
• Schlager Party, a London series of schlager events
• Schlager Radio
• Points to and from Sweden eurovisioncovers.co.uk

• Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Melodifestivalen